The present invention relates to an electronic text display device and to a method for displaying electronic texts which is used to search electronically for information corresponding to an input character string, and more particularly to a technology which makes it possible for the user to mark a searched item.
An example of this type of electronic text display device and method for displaying electronic texts is an electronic dictionary. An electronic dictionary contains dictionary data, such as that for a Japanese character dictionary, Japanese-to-English dictionary, or an English-to-Japanese dictionary, stored in semiconductor memory (ROM) or on a magnetic disk, and is provided with computer functions for searching for Japanese characters using phonetic input (if the dictionary is a Japanese character dictionary) or searching for Japanese equivalents of input English words (if the dictionary is an English-Japanese dictionary). In the case of a Japanese character dictionary, the memory stores font data for creating Japanese characters, table data for conducting searches (similar to the index tables used to indicate data storage locations), and dictionary data, each in a compressed format. Hereinafter, electronic text display devices and methods for displaying electronic texts will simply be referred to as xe2x80x9celectronic dictionariesxe2x80x9d.
Unlike an ordinary dictionary which is not dependent on electronic means, an electronic dictionary does not allow the user to mark lines. As a result, the user cannot tell whether a word he or she are searching for is one that he or she has looked up in the past.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 3-237561 discloses a device intended to resolve this problem. The disclosed invention relates to an electronic dictionary that provides added convenience for the user by allowing the user to search word information for previously searched words and, in the event that a word marked previously by the user during an initial search is displayed, displaying the previously marked word in a highlighted display, or with the message xe2x80x9cmemorizedxe2x80x9d next to it.
Although this electronic dictionary informs the user that a search has been conducted previously for a particular word, other information, such as how many times a word has been searched for in the past, when the word was last searched for, or how frequently the word has been searched for, is not provided. In addition, the rudimentary display configuration of the electronic dictionary disclosed in the aforementioned publication is not convenient for the user to work with. Furthermore, when more than one person uses the same dictionary, a user cannot determine which user actually looked up a particular word.
It is an object of this invention to resolve these problems. The first object is to provide an electronic dictionary that can display previously searched for text, applying attributes which reflect the number of times that the text has been searched for previously.
The second object is to provide an electronic dictionary that can be used by more than one person.
The third object is to provide an electronic dictionary that can automatically select the text to be used by each user.
The fourth object is to provide an electronic dictionary that informs the user that a prior search has been performed.
The fifth object is to provide an electronic dictionary that prevents accumulation of outdated attribute data.
The sixth object is to provide an electronic dictionary that informs the user of how many times a search has been performed
The seventh object is to provide an electronic dictionary that facilitates visual recognition of text attribute data by the user.
The eighth object is to provide an electronic dictionary that prevents users from overlooking text attribute data.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 1 corresponds to the first object. It comprises input means for indicating text to be searched for, first memory means for storing a text table composed of one or more records, second memory means for storing attribute information indicating the search status of a record that has been searched for one or more times from the first memory means, display means for displaying the record searched for, and processing means for receiving an output signal from the input means, searching the first memory means for the record indicated by the output signal, reading out from the second memory means the attribute data corresponding to the record being searched for, and displaying on the display means the applicable record using a display status configuration which is based on the read out attribute data.
xe2x80x9cAttribute dataxe2x80x9d includes the number of times an item has been searched for, the search frequency, and the search time and date. In other words, the attribute data relates to the search status. In addition, xe2x80x9cdisplay configurationsxe2x80x9d include attaching a special mark to the displayed text, displaying the text in highlighted display, changing the display color, displaying flashing text, or changing the font to or from Mincho, Gothic, or the like. Any display configuration that allows the text to be distinguished from the surrounding text may be used. In addition, xe2x80x9crecordxe2x80x9d searches can be conducted not only on text fields, but also on fields such as number searches, translation, meaning, or the like.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 2 corresponds to the first object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in Claim 1, wherein the processing means, in the course of searching for a record from the first memory means, updates, on the basis of the new search, the attribute data which is associated with this record and which is stored in the second memory means.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 3 corresponds to the first object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in Claim 1, wherein the processing means, in the course of searching for a record from the first memory means, creates attribute data associated with this record in the event that attribute data associated with this record is not stored in the second memory means.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 4 corresponds to the second object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 3, wherein the second memory means comprises a plurality of memory areas created for each of a plurality of users, each of this plurality of memory areas storing attribute data.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 5 corresponds to the third object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 4, wherein the first memory means stores text tables of a plurality of types, the plurality of memory areas in the aforementioned second memory means store data designating which of the plurality of types of text table should be used, and based on this designation data, the processing means searches for the corresponding text table in the first memory means.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 6 corresponds to the fourth object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 5, further comprising a timer which outputs a time signal, wherein the processing means stores the time signal when the first memory means is searched, and additionally displays the search time based on the aforementioned time signal on the electronic text display device.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 7 corresponds to the fifth object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in Claim 6, wherein the processing means refers to time signals from the timer to erase at prescribed times attribute data stored in the second memory means.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 8 corresponds to the fifth object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 6, wherein, in the event that the number of times that attribute data has not been updated during previous searches exceeds a prescribed number, the attribute data is erased.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 9 corresponds to the sixth object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 8, wherein the processing means stores a count of the number of times that a search has been performed for a given record, and stores this value as attribute data in the second memory means.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 10 corresponds to the sixth object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 8, wherein the processing means stores the search frequency for a given record as attribute data in the second memory means.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 11 corresponds to the seventh object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 8, wherein the processing device makes reference to the attribute data stored in the second memory to modify the color of the record display.
The electronic text display device disclosed in Claim 12 corresponds to the eighth object, and provides an electronic text display device as defined in any of Claims 1 through 8, wherein the processing device makes reference to the attribute data stored in the second memory to cause the record display to flash.
The electronic text display method disclosed in Claim 13 corresponds to the first object, and provides an electronic text display method comprising a first step in which a first memory means, which stores a text table composed of one or more records, is searched when an output signal is received from an input means for initiating a text search; a second step in which attribute data indicating the search status of a record which has been searched for one or more times from the aforementioned first memory means in the first step is read out from the second memory means; and a third step in which the record searched for in the first step is displayed in the display configuration associated with the attribute data read out in the second step.
The storage medium disclosed in Claim 14 corresponds to the first object, and provides a machine-readable storage medium for storing a program for executing a process comprising a first step in which an output signal is received by a computer from an input means for initiating a text search, and a first memory means, which stores a text table composed of one or more records, is searched; a second step in which attribute data indicating the search status of a record which has been searched for one or more times from the first memory means in the first step is read out from a second memory means; and a third step in which the record searched for in the first step is displayed in the display configuration associated with the attribute data read out in the second step.
The storage medium includes flexible disks, fixed disks, magnetic tape, magnetooptical discs, CD-ROM, DVD, ROM cartridges, RAM memory cartridges with battery back-up, flash memory cartridges, and non-volatile RAM cartridges.
It also includes telephone lines and other hard-wired communications media, and microwave circuits and other wireless communications media. Here, xe2x80x9ccommunications mediaxe2x80x9d also includes the Internet.